Best way to clear unwanted trees from pasture

[Egon]

One of these may still be the best option for stump, root removal and initial cultivation.

[video]https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F720716 746598095164%2F&psig=AOvVaw2sf91SgM3DPt6XpUCG1EhU&ust=1581514618248000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLiAz6rPyecCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE[/video]

 

[buickanddeere]

What kind of a root system and soil ? Is pulling the tree out by practical ? If cut flush and the stump sprayed with herbicide. How long does it take for the root system to rot and allow conventional mouldboard ploughing ?

 

[searcyfarms]

WOW, just catching up on this, 6 mos later and still chipping away, hauling, loading/unloading, 150 hours of your time so far working just with the tractor alone, 3K in time for that @ 20/hr, 30K tractor? , 10K saw/grapple i think was what you were saying, plus fuel, plus wear/tear, plus herbicide, lost time for other projects, still have to coat stumps, still have to deal with holes/fixing due to rotted stumps ( per your comments ) WOW you are a glutton.

in a weeks time @appx 10K this could have been cleared, stumps removed, graded, ready to be disked/planted with seed of choice and growing 5 mos by now and you would have been on to next project.

to each his own but i have been down this road more than once and the first two times taught me to have someone else do it - i got my pride out of burning the piles and watching the new stuff grow in

you would have the house half done by now lol

 

[jjp8182]

WOW, just catching up on this, 6 mos later and still chipping away, hauling, loading/unloading, 150 hours of your time so far working just with the tractor alone, 3K in time for that @ 20/hr, 30K tractor? , 10K saw/grapple i think was what you were saying, plus fuel, plus wear/tear, plus herbicide, lost time for other projects, still have to coat stumps, still have to deal with holes/fixing due to rotted stumps ( per your comments ) WOW you are a glutton.

in a weeks time @appx 10K this could have been cleared, stumps removed, graded, ready to be disked/planted with seed of choice and growing 5 mos by now and you would have been on to next project.

to each his own but i have been down this road more than once and the first two times taught me to have someone else do it - i got my pride out of burning the piles and watching the new stuff grow in

you would have the house half done by now lol

Pretty sure the tractor (and likely the grapple) would have been a sunk cost given the intended uses for the property (as originally described) and given seeding 35 acres would run pretty close to $2k (at 50lbs/acre) I'd question if hiring it out, and starting with bare earth would actually have been a cheaper option even if it'd have been faster (depending on local backlogs). That's of course assuming the 10k is a valid estimate for the amount of work that needed to be done - which may or may not be valid for the OP's area.

I know in my area landscapers and clearing crews have gotten pretty ridiculously (by my standards) priced. For example: 2k-4k+ estimates for removal of shrubs and a couple dozen trees in the beds around a house -- all of which was removed by myself (with a tractor) and coworker (with a chainsaw), and mulched with a rented chipper in under 16 hours of work.

In fact it's bad enough, that if it wasn't for me actually enjoying my work (most of the time), and my disinclination to put up with the types of personalities that I know exist in the local area I'd be very tempted to walk away from my (reasonably well paying) engineering job and start a small clearing/landscaping/treecare outfit. It seems that (around here) anything fast will be excessively expensive, anything reasonably priced will likely take months (and lots of phone calls) to get done, and anything in-between will be expensive --and the price isn't always reflective of the quality of work.

All of which has driven me to the conclusion that in my current locality there's not much that I can't do faster, cheaper and of equal -or in some cases better- quality by either buying or renting the necessary equipment myself. Which I suspect is likely due to an excessive number of white-collar workers who can't/won't do such things themselves and are more than willing to pay whatever price to have someone else do it for them.

So as you said to each their own, and based upon what I've seen/heard around my part of the country I'd add each really needs to investigate the options/costs for their own area.

 

[rScotty]

Pretty sure the tractor (and likely the grapple) would have been a sunk cost given the intended uses for the property (as originally described) and given seeding 35 acres would run pretty close to $2k (at 50lbs/acre) I'd question if hiring it out, and starting with bare earth would actually have been a cheaper option even if it'd have been faster (depending on local backlogs). That's of course assuming the 10k is a valid estimate for the amount of work that needed to be done - which may or may not be valid for the OP's area.

I know in my area landscapers and clearing crews have gotten pretty ridiculously (by my standards) priced. For example: 2k-4k+ estimates for removal of shrubs and a couple dozen trees in the beds around a house -- all of which was removed by myself (with a tractor) and coworker (with a chainsaw), and mulched with a rented chipper in under 16 hours of work.

In fact it's bad enough, that if it wasn't for me actually enjoying my work (most of the time), and my disinclination to put up with the types of personalities that I know exist in the local area I'd be very tempted to walk away from my (reasonably well paying) engineering job and start a small clearing/landscaping/treecare outfit. It seems that (around here) anything fast will be excessively expensive, anything reasonably priced will likely take months (and lots of phone calls) to get done, and anything in-between will be expensive --and the price isn't always reflective of the quality of work.

All of which has driven me to the conclusion that in my current locality there's not much that I can't do faster, cheaper and of equal -or in some cases better- quality by either buying or renting the necessary equipment myself. Which I suspect is likely due to an excessive number of white-collar workers who can't/won't do such things themselves and are more than willing to pay whatever price to have someone else do it for them.

So as you said to each their own, and based upon what I've seen/heard around my part of the country I'd add each really needs to investigate the options/costs for their own area.

You're right. Clearing 50 acres to plant would cost more here too. The price for having someone else do what you could do for yourself depends a lot on location. Around here, 10K wouldn't do more than get you started - if you can find someone to do it at all.
Quality work is a whole different subject.

None of this was true back where I grew up. But then that's part of why people leave there when young and return there to retire.
rScotty

 

[searcyfarms]

i had 15 acres of soft maples some in the 12 inch size for 10K took them 3.5 days - last year 5600 bucks, cleared, piled, disked - I had another 1.5 acres cleared for 400 bucks took less than 2.5 hours. He has a minimum charge.

disking is 15 to 20/acre here - if you are just talking pasture grass very cheap to broadcast and drag something over if you wish OR you can drill it, it costs 75 bucks to rent a drill here or 3pt broadcast seeder.

anyway............pretty cheap/easy to get it planted - I planted 15 acres of CRP and it ran 300/acre for seed alone last yr but that was for special warm season grasses and pollinator species

biggest advantage of course is time/effort, wear n tear, costs, at this point in life, id rather be done, have my grass, have the crap gone, have the field taken care of forever, no more maint/time other than mowing and letting the horses eat ;-)

i know for each his own but filling in holes for years and having bumps/lumps from the rotting roots and stumps or buying yet another piece of equipment then more time/effort to run it, that wears on me, then more time and energy and carrying all those loads of dirt around for the next rotting years if i choose not to remove stumps and trying to find/fix them and hope i dont break something is added stress on me and equipment.

nothing like putting time/effort/pride of ownership into your land and getting that experience but I quit some of that so i could spend more time w/family.

 

[goeduck]

i had 15 acres of soft maples some in the 12 inch size for 10K took them 3.5 days - last year 5600 bucks, cleared, piled, disked - I had another 1.5 acres cleared for 400 bucks took less than 2.5 hours. He has a minimum charge.
.

He has 35 acres of pasture. If your 15 acres was $10K, then his would be $23K?

There is no way 15 acres could be cleared for $10K out here. I wish it could.

 

[searcyfarms]

i was guessing 15 to 20 acres tops on his , my 15 was solid growth his is very thin and wouldnt take hardly any time at all in a lot of it, kind of moot at this point for him just making observations for the next guy that takes on something like this - its frustrating cleaning up others messes and overgrowth. This kind of thing is a menace for pasture or unmanaged CRP.

a lot of it depends on trees/soil/size of overgrowth and the equipment the guy doing it has too regarding cost. Some of that root stuff can be pulled up with a trackhoe and some will come right up driving thru the trees with a ripper/chisel on a dozer if its smaller and that saves them time/wear on their machine doing stuff like that so costs are lower, just some things to think about when trying to figure out what to do

 

[goeduck]

Yes, all great info. Post#1 says 35 acres of pasture.

 

[searcyfarms]

Yes, all great info. Post#1 says 35 acres of pasture.

yea it does but he provided aerials of it and that really gives a better perspective of the project - I feel for him, i have been thru this on multiple properties, only one my own that i purchased from my cousin who let things go.

I wore my self slick on this stuff, tore up things, wore things out including myself so i get it - i applaud his passion!!!!

 

[goeduck]

yea it does but he provided aerials of it and that really gives a better perspective of the project - I feel for him, i have been thru this on multiple properties, only one my own that i purchased from my cousin who let things go.

I wore my self slick on this stuff, tore up things, wore things out including myself so i get it - i applaud his passion!!!!

What equipment did your guy use? I assume an excavator on the stumps but how did he level it?

 

[Jstpssng]

What equipment did your guy use? I assume an excavator on the stumps but how did he level it?

A good excavator operator will level it as he works. When mine was done I put the seeder on my ATV and spread winter rye seed. (Which the wild turkeys quickly gobbled up.)

 

[searcyfarms]

i cant remember which one he used but he has a komatsu 200 & 220 excavator and he has two D6 cats with the tall undercarriage they used one of each -

scratch out the trees and then push/pile with dozer - i left teh piles to rot and provide cover for rabbits etc....

if you look back at a couple pix i posted earlier in this threat u can see how bit one of the piles is, its in the background when i was drilling

 

[Tennsawdust]

Not too much of a surprise that progress has slowed ...since I'd guess you're getting about as much rain as we are here in northern Alabama (we've had various types of flood warnings for the last couple weeks). Nice side of the rain is it means there's no concern about fire getting out of hand when burning any remaining piles (may take some work to get them started though) and (more importantly) it's probably a good time to figure out where the higher/drier parts of the property are since they will probably be the least problematic for building sites (at least when it comes to dealing with water - particularly the large volumes than can come in the winter months).

We have definitely gotten the rain this winter. We are like you guys: about 400% of normal. All the lakes are either at or very near summer levels. The nearest one is usually dropped about 35 feet in the winter. It is now within 5 or 6 feet of being full. I have several spots on the farm where I am fairly sure you could sink a tractor completely out of sight. The wet weather springs are gushing.

 

[mikewood869]

I know I’m late, but I’ve been using a Ford 4500 backhoe to clear out 40 acres and so far it’s worked, but it leaves holes in the ground.

 

[Ed27]

Lots of good perspectives lately on pay someone to do it versus do it yourself. I am happy with the choice we made and how it is working out. Yes, it is a lot of hard work, but I enjoy running the tractor and hanging out with my wife on the weekends. I think I'm making a good investment of my time and saving a lot of money. I do really appreciate all the different opinions here and I hope all your experiences will help others too, which is why we are here! My son recently made another video. Stay healthy!

March 21 Farm Update (1443 trees, 28 burn piles) - YouTube

 

[Ed27]

...and, surprisingly, after cutting down dense stands of trees and blackberries, we have a lot of nice grass, which is where we want to end up.

 

[Ford850]

That video, looking down on the small vehicle, puts all your hard work into perspective. Nice job!

 

[jjp8182]

Nice! ... that's quite the difference from the pictures in posts #93 & #97.

 

[Ed27]

Nice! ... that's quite the difference from the pictures in posts #93 & #97.

Thanks, jjp8182. I enjoyed your earlier "do it yourself" post.